


Intro to Freudian Slips

by randomramblesff



Category: Community (TV)
Genre: A lil' bit of Jeff/Britta friendship too, A twist to an episode full of Jeff/Annie possibilities, Basic Email Security AU, F/M, Fluff, Jeff is a gupti-gupta, a lil' bit of angst, season 6
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-11
Updated: 2016-02-11
Packaged: 2018-05-19 17:50:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5975890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/randomramblesff/pseuds/randomramblesff
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“By which you mean, Chang emails me rankings every day and I don't respond, because if I did, it would always be Annie one, Britta two.” An alternative ending to Basic Email Security (Season 6, Episode 6) where Jeff is a gupti-gupta who accidentally said something he probably shouldn't have said.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Intro to Freudian Slips

**Author's Note:**

> (Certain episodes are full of Jeff & Annie possibilities and this is just one of them (Basic Email Security - S6), so I wrote a little fluffy something which has a bit of angst but is basically a shortcut to the good stuff. It was originally going to be multi-chapter but I'll leave it here. Tbf, I really have no idea what this is... but hopefully somebody will enjoy it. British spellings FYI.)

“Oh, you guys are so suave. You're such gentlemen. You and Chang have a daily email chain ranking Annie and Britta one and two.”

“By which you mean, Chang emails me rankings every day and I don't respond, because if I did, it would always be Annie one, Britta two.”

The words escaped his lips without him even realising.

It took a moment for him to actually remember what he’d said but by the time the full realisation had hit him, the door to the cafeteria was slamming shut and he was suddenly left with everyone except Annie staring at him, their jaws dropped open.

“Oooh, explain that one Winger.” Chang piped up, making Jeff close his eyes for a moment longer than a blink, everyone standing around in a stunned silence. One side of his brain totally understood why it would be a shock for them to hear him say it, but the other side was trying to make things seem innocent because quite frankly, Annie was attractive… but then so was Britta, so perhaps that was where the problem lay.

As he opened his eyes up again, he dared a glance over to the vicinity of Frankie (where Annie was previously standing before she’d huffed out a ‘What?! Oh my god!’ and stormed out the room).

It was as if the whole cafeteria was caving in on him and the only exit strategy he could think of was one he’d used many times before, even in a very similar situation, in the exact same location, because of something he’d said around the exact same people (minus Shirley, Pierce and Troy… plus Frankie, Chang and Elroy… yes, okay so it wasn’t the _exact_ same people).

“Yeah, see the thing is…” He held up a hand before darting through the group, brushing a shoulder past Britta who was still stood with her mouth drooping open, her eyes wide and her cheeks a little red.

Nobody was even thinking about Gupti Gupta Gupta because the only gupti-gupta that they knew of was the one who was now standing outside of the cafeteria, brushing his hands down his face, wishing that the water fountain down the hallway was supplied with an endless supply of scotch instead of tasteless water.

He still didn’t even know why he’d said it.

As soon as Elroy had mentioned it, he’d bitten down his tongue but for some bizarre reason he’d let it slip that Annie was his number one choice. Of course she was, he loved her (not that she, or anyone else knew that) and maybe that’s why he’d blurted out such a stupid comment.

He was defending her honour.

No, that was ridiculous. She didn’t need defending, in fact ever since the start of the year, she’d been proving that.

They were almost certainly all standing in the cafeteria thinking of ways to burn him at the stake. He knew he had to find Annie and apologise somehow, and he knew he also had to apologise to Britta because it was probably rather humiliating for her too.

He bit down on his lip before pushing himself off the wall, ignoring the few students who were giving him strange looks as he turned in the direction away from the cafeteria.

Even though the idea of an endless supply of scotch did sound rather appetising, he knew that the last thing Annie needed was him turning up at her doorstep with a half-functioning brain, late at night.

He wondered through the campus checking in all of the main locations that he’d expect Annie to end up… the study room, the steps _to_ the study room, the quad, the Dean’s office, Frankie’s office, _his_ office, _his_ classroom, the forensics lab, the Frisbee filled storage room, the theatre department, the tiny closet that he’d often hid out in before… the parking lot.

He’d tried everywhere and he was almost certain that the rest of the group were following him, but when he passed the women’s bathroom for what must have been the third time, he decided to give it a shot. He looked behind him before opening the door just a crack, listening in to see if he could hear anyone shut away.

“Annie? Are you in here?” He called out just in case. He was just about to close the door when he heard a low mumble which sound a little something like ‘go away’. He rolled his eyes and opened the door fully, closing it behind him as he crouched down to check which cubicle she was in.

He lent his arm up against the door of the middle cubicle, his forehead resting against it as he composed himself.

“Look… I’m sorry okay, that came out wrong and I didn’t mean to… make you mad or anything, I just… I was… we’re all a little bit caught up in this whole thing and I just… handled it wrong, and I’m sorry.”

He heard what must have been the toilet roll holder spin around, the metallic clink echoing around the room as she made a muffled sob, confirming that she was wiping away _tears_ , not anything else.

“I’m sorry… I really am… but if there’s one thing you should take from it… it’s that I wasn’t lying.”

“Oh my god! Go away, seriously, you’re just making this worse. Go and apologise to Britta or something.”

He knew he’d blown it then. It was his attempt at making her feel better because the last thing he wanted was to be the cause of actual tears. He understood why she was upset though… being told you’d ‘always rank higher on a vote of attractiveness between himself and Chang’ didn’t exactly sound that great when he thought about it, so no wonder she’d burst out of the room almost immediately.

He also knew that Britta and Annie were _fairly_ close and the idea of being pitted against one and other probably didn’t make her feel too great either. Before he could speak again, another female student walked in, jolting her head back at the fact that a male member of staff was currently stood in what could seem like an empty women’s room.

“Err… did I walk into the wrong bathroom… or?” The student edged back towards the door as Jeff took a gulp, scuffing his feet on the floor.

“You should go.” Annie mumbled making Jeff nod his head to the floor before brushing past the student, muttering his apology on the way out.

 _So… that didn’t work,_ he thought to himself as he lent against the wall to take a breather.

It couldn’t get much worse when he remembered that the students mulling about weren’t looking at him weirdly because he looked like he had no life in; they were looking at him because now they knew which porn sites he was subscribed to and what he’d sent to his therapist last week… which probably hadn’t been anything too interesting but he would have cut a load of crap out if he’d known it was going to end up in everyone’s downloads.

He decided it was best to retreat to his office and lock himself away until he was dragged out by his ankles. He knew he couldn’t leave to go home now, no matter how badly he wanted to, but if Annie wound up knowing that he’d escaped in a panic, he knew she’d never forgive him… and he probably needed to apologise to Britta too... which wasn’t that hard seeing as she was sat in his desk chair as he swung the door open.

He rolled his neck, realising he was in for it, as she crossed her arms, her feet up on some sports magazine he’d picked up for reading in between classes.

“What do you want?” He moaned, not keeping eye contact for longer than a millisecond.

“Woah, gee, thanks Jeff. First of all, I’m number two in your little ranking system and now I’m not even worthy of speaking to? You do know who you’re talking to right? I fight for the women of this country and the idea that we need men to define our worth and beauty, is just plain and simply wrong and I won’t put up with it any longer.

You need to apologise to me and you need to apologise to Annie. Especially Annie… I don’t know about you but I think she seemed pretty upset even if she _was_ ranked number one… which I mean, isn’t really much of a surprise when you think about you and her.”

Jeff let out a sigh as Britta came to the end of her ramble, his feet back to scuffing at the floor as he thought of some words to say.

“I’m sorry, okay? I was mad at Elroy for bringing it up and I just made a mistake. I’m going to apologise to Annie, and I’m apologising to you now. I’m sorry and… it doesn’t mean anything. I mean, I wouldn’t have slept with you if I didn’t think you were attractive, would I?”

Britta dropped her mouth open again, letting out a high pitched shriek.

“How dare you! This is exactly what I mean. Ugh, you’re a pig and I’m _allowed_ to say that.” Jeff rolled his eyes, allowing her to get a more frustrated at him than he would usually be willing to stick out.

“I’m screwing up a lot today as you can tell so could you just cut me some slack? I obviously don’t know how to say anything right because Annie’s still locked up in the women’s bathroom and this student walked in giving me evils as if I was about to rape her, and even when I walk out into the hallway it’s no different because now everyone under the sun knows what I jerk off to and… _god,_ I screwed this up. I can’t even tell her I love her.”

Britta dropped her mouth open again, but with a more amused twist to it. She crossed her arms again, dropping her feet off the desk, the noise jolting Jeff’s head up as he realised he’d just opened up and admitted something very real to _Britta_ of all people.

“Now _this_ just got a whole lot more interesting.”

* * *

 

He was closing his eyes again, taking a deep breath to control himself as his hands clenched up into fists. This day honestly couldn’t get any worse, and the worst part was that there was now a glistening bottle of scotch sat on his desk just besides Britta but right now all he was thinking of was escaping.

She tapped her foot on the ground, waiting for a response of some kind but she didn’t get anything back so she sat forward and raised her eyebrows.

“You… love… Annie?”

He glanced at her with the side of his eye, his nostrils flaring a little. He was _trying_ to not show any form of reaction but he knew he was doing a terrible job… so he took another shot at his all famous line.

“Yeah, see the thing is…” He said, grabbing the bottle of scotch that had been eyeing him before dashing out in to the hallway, almost crashing into a janitor as he unscrewed the bottle top of his drink with one hand, tilting back his neck as he walked, not even caring about the consequences of drinking in front of a few stray students… as long as Frankie wasn’t at the door to the parking lot, he should be fine.

And he was.  
Well… he was as fine as you can be when a whole school is able to read your personal emails and you’ve just admitted you love a young woman who is sat in a cubicle crying her eyes out about the fact you just ranked her between another woman who you just admitted you were in love with said crying young woman, to.

His brain hurt just thinking of it all and he wasn’t anywhere near drunk enough as he locked himself in his Lexus, reclining the seat back into a horizontal position so he could try and zone out even for a few brief moments.

He couldn’t help but think that he deserved it all though. Maybe he deserved to go through all of this crap… it was karma for not just telling Annie the truth all that time ago before the new semester started.

He could have… but he was still hung up on the idea of hurting her. His therapist had come to conclusion that he was actually more scared of her hurting _him_ if Annie had finally given up on them being together… and maybe she was right.

He wasn’t sure what he would do if he found out that she wasn’t interested. It would probably break him into a thousand tiny pieces and he wasn’t sure if he would even be worth fixing back up again. So yeah, maybe his therapist was a little more than right.

Now that Britta knew (well, _basically_ knew), there was no way he could guarantee she’d keep her mouth shut. He hoped and prayed that she would because when he _had_ ever imagined saying those three all-important words to Annie, it was either after having heart-stopping sex after an almost as equally heart-stoppingly romantic dinner for two… _or_ it was just a spur of the moment thing that he blurted out one day in the grocery store. Either way sounded pretty good to him if he just allowed himself to say it.

His phone buzzed and part of it hoped it was her, even though it was highly unlikely that Annie was ever going to talk to him again. But he picked it up anyway, only to put it back down again as the now, rather dull sounding news flashed before him.

**Save Greendale Committee Group Chat -**

**CRAIG PELTON: _Gupti Gupta Gupta has been cancelled. Sorry Britta, but we had to._**

He took another swig of his scotch; the amber liquid burning his throat… his head starting to feel the effects now that he’d downed a fair amount. He tried to resist it but in this kind of situation, he was pretty sure he deserved it.

That’s when his phone went again, and for some reason he picked it up once more even though he was sure it would just be some rant from Britta in response to the Dean.

**ABED: _Annie’s at our apartment with me. She seems pretty mad but I think she’ll forgive you if you tell her the truth._**

He was sat up now, rubbing the palms of his hands to his eyes as he re-read the messaged. _The truth…_ his mind went straight to Britta, so he let out a groan and he knew she must have said something. So he typed back, just to confirm his fears.

**JEFF: _What did Britta tell you?_**

A new message popped back almost instantly.

**ABED: _Britta? I haven’t spoken to her since she went to your office._**

_Great,_ Jeff thought as he realised that he was halfway to drunk in the late afternoon, in the Greendale parking lot, with Abed being cryptic over text message. He groaned once again, slumping his head against the steering wheel. He almost wanted the horn to accidentally go off just so somebody could come and help pull him out of this mess.

* * *

 

“I just can’t believe he would do that!” Annie was pacing back and forth in her bedroom as Abed perched on the side of her bed, tilting his head as he watched her.

“Should I be mad? Of course I should! I feel _awful_ for Britta too… god, he’s so inconsiderate sometimes… and then he comes and finds me and tells me that he wasn’t _lying_? Like that’s _really_ going to make me feel much better.”

Abed looked down, mulling over her words before looking back up again as she turned and walked towards the door.

“Why wouldn’t that make you feel better?”

“Because he’s Jeff… he doesn’t mean anything he says. When I see him next, he’ll apologise and tell me it was all a mistake – which it was, by the way - and that he didn’t mean it. Err! I shouldn’t be getting so worked up… I should be back at Greendale helping Frankie with the show.” She waved her hands in the air as she began to get even more frustrated with herself.

“The show’s been cancelled,” Abed gestured his phone up in the air, “the Dean texted us all in a group chat.” Annie rolled her eyes and sighed, joining Abed on the bed before falling onto her back, her hair splaying in every different direction, her hands up either side of her head.

“But then I just think… maybe I _should_ just take it as a compliment… but that’s ridiculous because Jeff has never shown any sign of attraction to me whatsoever… so there was that one kiss! Whoop-de-doo!” Annie paused to wave her hands around again before continuing, “Sometimes I wish it had never happened though… it would have made things so much easier.”

Annie sighed almost dreamily as if she was right back there outside of the cafeteria. _Sometimes I wish it could have happened ag- no. I’m… over it,_ Annie cut her thoughts off as she dozed off beside Abed who was still analysing her from above.

* * *

 

It had been about an hour since he’d slumped down into his Lexus and his bottle of scotch was about half empty. He’d been playing it over and over in his head… asking himself why he’d _really_ let it slip, as if thinking about it for long enough would send him back in time for him to bite down on his tongue even further.

The thing was, Annie had been on his mind a lot lately. She’d been on his mind ever since the door in Borchert’s lab had started to open. When it happened, he hadn’t even acted that surprised. He just stood still and tried to stumble his way through a distraction… because he _wasn’t_ surprised.

It was the look she gave him when she’d been talking about letting each other want what they want. It had cut right through him like a dagger to the heart and he’d known there was no turning back.

When he’d put on the headset, he’d looked at Annie and he’d _known_ before the door had even started to move. But the thing was (as he would later discover), Annie had already closed the door on him as he’d started to open up the one to her.

He knew that now of course.  
The dynamic between them had changed. It started to happen over the summer. She’d started to avoid him by hiding out in her room, busying herself with work and slipping out for a coffee every time he entered apartment 303.

It started to ease off as she quite obviously locked up the door with a padlock, dropped the key in a river and waved goodbye. Perhaps it wasn’t quite as extreme as that, but that’s how things had played out in his mind.

When the current semester had started he told himself he was just imagining it but things really had changed. She’d started to join in with the jibes and pokes he received from everyone else and she clearly wasn’t interested in helping out anymore because she hadn’t mentioned the severe lack of quality in his ‘teaching’ or the amount of alcohol he was now consuming.

He knew that if he were acting out the way he was now, back before the change… she would have cornered him and built him back up again. He knew it wasn’t her job, because he was 40 (almost 41) and could handle things by himself but it didn’t exactly help the situation that she wasn’t her usual smiley-motivator-self.

The thing he found most pathetic was that every time she said something of meaning, he felt as if it was directed at him as yet another punch to the gut. The most recent example he could think of was when he was kicked off of campus by the Dean and she’d slid her hand across the table in Britta’s bar… her eyes all glowy and soft in the light, her voice dropped to a tone that he barely even recognised anymore; “Have you ever thought of saying that, to the Dean?”

Which had immediately translated as _“Have you ever thought of saying that, to me?”_. He’d brushed it away in the moment but those words hadn’t left him.

He couldn’t tell her because he knew things wouldn’t end well. He’d say something to offend her and that would be it… He wasn’t sure if they’d ever be able to go back to ‘just friends’ if they tried anything more. There was also the Annie breaking him part, but he tended to brush that under the carpet because it made things a hundred times worse.

As he sipped back another glug of scotch, he heard a faint tapping at the window. He rolled his eyes, almost in synchronisation of the rolling down of the window, as he held down the button to reveal Britta.

“Unlock the door.”

“Do you really have to do this to me right now? As you can see, I’d much rather you leave me alone.”

“If you don’t unlock the door, I’ll climb through this window and scratch the paint job with my nails. I promise I’ll leave as soon as I’ve said what I have to say.” Jeff rolled his eyes again before reaching a hand to unlock the passenger door, because his life would most definitely get double ruined if he let her destroy his car.

As she plonked herself down next to him, he lent back once again, staring blankly as he rubbed his palms along his jean clad thighs.

“You need to tell Annie what you said.” Britta blurted out, turning to him with a stern look on her face.

“I didn’t say anything.”

“You can’t keep denying it Jeff. You ran away like a little school boy because you can’t face up to the facts. I don’t know much about what’s going on with you, or Annie for that matter, but what I do know is that there is definitely _something_ going on. So, if you want to make her feel any better, go to the apartment, right now, apologise and tell her what you… _inadvertently_ told me.”

Jeff carried on staring upwards, his mind a little foggy as she pointed a finger down at him. He wasn’t about to _deny_ anything, so he did a bit of a shimmy around what she’d really been getting at.

“I’m not going anywhere.”

“Oh yes you are mister,” Britta grabbed Jeff’s car keys from the dashboard, dangling them in the air, “and _I’m_ driving. _You’ve_ been drinking, but I haven’t. So get out, swap seats and let’s drive on down to _lurve_ town so you can tell Annie that you really _do_ have a heart.” Britta poked his arm as she opened up the passenger door again, ready to get in the driving seat, before turning around again, thinking over what she’d just said.

“Actually, maybe ignore the love town bit because _we’re_ not going there. Ugh, okay, come on!” She waved her hands to get him up but he just looked at her like she was the most uninteresting sight in the world. 

“You’re not driving my car.”

“So _you_ are thinking of going to her apartment. Okay, good start… so, I’ll call a cab.”

“I never said that.”

“No, but you were _thinking_ it.”

“I was not.”

“You were.”

“Was not.”

“I’m calling a cab and I’m _not_ paying because I have no cash on me whatsoever, so grab your wallet, we’re going.”

“Please don’t.”

“The thing is Jeff, I know you well enough now to recognise that a tiny part of you actually _does_ want me to call a cab because then you can deal with it all in one go. You may be…” Britta pauses to look over at the bottle of scotch that’s now on the back seat, “…half a bottle of scotch drunk, but you still have enough of a brain on you to know that telling Annie about your physical attraction for her, is the _right_ thing to do.”

“Okay first of all, this is getting _really_ weird you being here and secondly, it’s not just a…” Jeff glanced over at Britta who was watching him, the tiniest bit of a smirk appearing as he continued, “… _physical_ attraction… I…” Jeff paused again to let out a breath, looking away to grit his teeth.

“Just call a cab and don’t say anything. If you say anything, I will _murder_ you.” Jeff spoke to wall, missing Britta as she pulled her face down at the fact Jeff was actually going along with her plan. He couldn’t believe it himself, so he blamed it on the alcohol currently streaming through his body. It was definitely the alcohol.

* * *

 

“Abed, can you get the pizza?” Annie called out as Abed played around on a video game in the living room. She’d brushed the whole day off and realised that this was Jeff and there was nothing she could do. She’d go back to Greendale the next day and they’d all act as if nothing had happened. _The usual._

Annie stood up from her bed where she’d been laying for a while now, stretching herself out as Abed got the door. They’d ordered pizza after the fiasco because there was nothing better than a good fashioned slice of Hawaiian to smooth things over, so when Abed tilted his head and looked over his shoulder once the door was open, the hunger within her suddenly disappeared.

“Can we come in?” Jeff asked as Abed looked himself and Britta up and down, assessing the situation. Abed turned back towards Annie, his hand still on the door.

“Can they come in?” He asked as she sighed and crossed her arms over her chest, slouching a bit as she stood.

“Well we have to let Britta in because she lives here…” Abed turned back to the door at this, holding it open a little wider, pointing a thumb to guide Britta indoors. Jeff sighed, avoiding direct contact from Annie who was now pouting and mumbling something at Britta.

“Abed, can I come in please?” Abed contemplated for a moment before stepping aside. Jeff nodded forward, finally stepping inside the apartment. Annie still had her arms crossed as she stood there, obviously now expecting _something_.

Jeff glanced over at Britta who was now leaning up against the wall as he suddenly felt the most uncomfortable he has ever felt before. He was supposedly about to express how much he loves one woman, whilst a woman who he’s slept with on several occasions stands on the side lines. It’s _definitely_ not how he’d envisioned saying the three important words.

“Okay so first of all, I’m going to speak to all of you and say that today hasn’t exactly been the best for any of us. The thing about friendship is that you can become so consumed with the idea you know so much about one and other that when you find out something new, it surprises you a little.

And maybe that’s what we needed to learn… that we don’t know everything about each other and we never will, so when we do find something out that _perhaps_ we didn’t want to know… well, maybe there’s a reason that person kept it quiet.

So now, I’m going to speak just to Annie because I know you deserve that.” He paused to turn his body slightly more towards her as she shuffled on the spot, sneaking a look over at Britta and Abed who were sat back, their ears pricked up like kittens.

“There are several reasons why what I said probably doesn’t make a lot of sense… and I’ve kept all of those reasons quiet because they’re my problems that I’ve yet to deal with. I know it was inconsiderate of me to just blurt something out like that, especially when Chang is involved, but I won’t take it back. Once again,” Jeff turned to Britta a little, “I’m sorry Britta, don’t take it too personally.” She shrugged and waved it off, knowing that he was on a bit of a role considering what a state he was in earlier.

“I won’t take it back because there’s a reason why I said it, and that reason is one of the things I’ve been keeping quiet. But on top of all of that there are reasons _why_ I keep things quiet…

I’m a jerk. As you can see from today, I mess up a lot. I _know_ I’m a jerk. I hold myself back because I know if I let myself get into a situation where being a jerk will actually cause consequences… well, I’d rather stop myself before I get to that.”

Annie was watching him now. She only had one arm crossed, her fingers curling up against her shoulder as he spoke. Her eyes flickered every now and again as he opened up and she had to be honest, this really wasn’t what she was expecting when he’d stepped inside the door ten minutes ago. She’d been expecting pizza for starters.

“Another reason why I keep things quiet is because a lot of things I want… are things that I don’t always necessarily deserve. I never _deserved_ to be a good lawyer because I cheated myself into it. I always take the easy route because I’m scared of what might happen if I put in hard work and then I fail.

But there’s a very specific thing that I want and I know I will _never_ deserve because they’re are much worthier people out there than me.”

As Jeff took a breath, Britta leant up against Abed in a whisper.

 _“He’s gonna’ say it!”_ Abed nodded rapidly with a smile on his face, tilting his head once again as Jeff carried on. Annie didn’t really know how to respond, and at this point she didn’t really know why this was being directed at her but it would soon all add up… Britta and Abed hoped.

“So… I guess what I’m trying to get at is… and believe me, this is not how I wanted to say it but… the thing that I want but I know I don’t deserve… is the person who’s standing right in front of me.”

Abed’s smile widened and Britta eyes bulged as Annie took a shaky breath whilst Jeff finally admitted something that had been weighing on him for far too long… the only thing was, he still hadn’t finished.

“And the reason I won’t take back what I said, is because I really wasn’t lying… I think you’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met and yeah I doubt I would ever have admitted that in front of Abed and Britta but I may have downed half a bottle of scotch before I came here but that doesn’t matter because I love you.” Jeff was shaking his head a little now, taking his own shaky breath as the final words slipped out of him.

Annie felt her whole body shiver as her skin dotted itself with goose bumps. She bit her lip and then they were both looking each other in the eyes, but she wasn’t saying a word and everything was starting to go a bit hazy.

Abed and Britta were both stood still in the silence that was so silent, you could most definitely hear a pin drop. Jeff gulped and gritted his teeth before looking to the floor. He’d blown it. Of course she was over him. He knew it all along. He was right. He didn’t deserve her. Why was he still there?

 _“I’m just gonna’ go.”_ He mumbled to the floor before turning around, walking straight past Abed and Britta who almost had the same faces as when Troy met LeVar Burton for the first time.

“Jeff, wait.” Annie called out, making him close his eyes again, his teeth grinding down even further.

“I’m not going to lie and say I believe you… but that’s only because… how am I supposed to believe that Jeff _Winger_ is in love with me?” He relaxed a little bit at that, because of course, this was Annie. She still believed the best in everyone and the first thought was how could possibly someone like Jeff love someone like Annie. _Of course I do, everyone loves you._

“But… when you love someone, I guess you have to trust them. So this is me… trusting you.” Annie quirked an eyebrow and ignored Britta and Abed as much as she could as they looked up at one and other. She was certain she’d heard Britta squeal at one point.

If Jeff had heard her right, then Annie had just admitted that she loved him too. He dared to look over his shoulder, his face still full of vulnerability that made Annie step a little closer in his direction. He could see the faint curl at the corner of her lips as a smile started to appear. A reassuring smile, just for him.

He turned them, his eyes flicking between her own as they both took in each other for the first time now that everything made sense. But then he caught Abed and Britta staring at them and he raised his eyebrows slyly before covering his mouth with a hand to stifle a cough.

Britta jolted back, getting the picture before shoving Abed towards his bedroom. Annie cringed with a smile before looking back up at him, her hands clasped together in a shy swing.

“You love me?” Annie’s voice was slightly higher than usual as she tried to keep it hushed. He looked down at her, his face now completely gone of tension, his eyes all dark and deep and full of admiration.

“Yeah… I love you… and I was pretty certain that you were going to turn around and say something else, but…” He looked away for a second as he got to grips with the whole ‘being open and honest’ thing.

“Why would you think that?”

“Because why would Annie Edison be in love with me?” He raised an eyebrow and then they were both smiling and her hands were wrapping around his neck, his around her waist, and their smiles were pressed against each other as the world blurred around them and somehow, Jeff found himself thanking Gupti Gupta Gupta and his racist comedy show for making him nut up and just admit it.

He freaking loved Annie Edison and for some strange reason, she loved him too.


End file.
